True Crime Collection

JonBenét Ramsey

JonBenét Ramsey was born on 6th August 1990, in Atlanta, Georgia, the youngest of 2 children of Patricia "Patsy" Ramsey (1956 - 2006) and John Bennett Ramsey (born 1943). She had an older brother named Burke (born 1987). JonBenét's first name combines her father's first and middle names, and her mother's first name was used as her middle name. She was enrolled in kindergarten at High Peaks Elementary School in Boulder, Colorado. 

JonBenét's body was found on 26th December, 1996, in her family's Boulder residence. She was buried at St James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia, on 31st December. JonBenét was interred next to her half sister Elizabeth Pasch Ramsey, who had died in a car crash nearly 5 years earlier at 22 years old. 

John Ramsey was a businessman who was the president of Access Graphics, a computer software company that later became a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. His first marriage ended in divorce in 1978. John's 2 surviving adult children (a son and a daughter) lived elsewhere. In 1991, John had moved with his second wife and family to Boulder, where Access Graphics' headquarters was located. 

Patsy Ramsey entered JonBenét in various child beauty pageants in Boulder, where she won the titles of America's Royale Miss, Little Miss Charlevoix, Little Miss Colorado, Colorado State All-Star Kids Cover Girl, and National Tiny Miss Beauty. JonBenét's active role in child beauty pageants and Patsy's reported "pageant mother" behaviour were reported by the media after the murder.

In the summer of 1997 - approximately 6 months after JonBenét's death - the Ramsey family moved to a new home in Atlanta after a summer at their vacation retreat in Charlevoix, Michigan. Patsy died of ovarian cancer at 49 years old in 2006; she was interred next to her daughter.

According to statements that Patsy gave to authorities on 26th December, 1996, she realised that her daughter was missing after she found a 2 ½ page handwritten ransom note on the kitchen staircase at the Ramsey's family residence. The note demanded $118,000. John pointed out to police first on the scene that the amount was nearly identical to his Christmas bonus of the prior year, which suggested that someone who would have access to that information would be involved in the crime. Investigators looked at several theories behind the dollar amount demanded, considering employees at Access Graphics who may have known of the amount of John's prior bonus. They also considered the possibility that the ransom demand was a reference to Psalm 118 and spoke to religious sources to determine possible relevance. 

The random note was unusually long. The FBI told the police that it was very unusual for such a note to be written at the crime scene. The police believed that the note was staged, because it did not have any fingerprints except for Patsy's and authorities who had handled it, and because it included an unusual use of exclamation marks and initialisms. The note and a practice draft were written with a pen and notepad from the Ramsey home. According to a Colorado Bureau of Investigation report, "There are indications that the author of the ransom note is Patricia Ramsey." However, the evidence fell short of a definitive conclusion. Michael Baden, a board-certified forensic pathologist, who had consulted with both sides of the case, said he had never seen a note like it in his 60 year experience and that he did not think it was written by an outside stranger.

A federal court ruled it highly unlikely that Patsy wrote the note, citing 6 certified handwriting experts. The court bemoaned the existence of self-proclaimed experts - without credentials - trying to wrangle their way into the case by accusing Patsy without scientific basis.